Ukraine War News Today - Top Stories and Breaking Updates from Kyiv Post

What do the recent summits with the US, Russia, and Ukraine mean for peace negotiations? Kurt Volker discusses security guarantees, demands of annexation in Donbas, and sanctions on Russia.

Discussions about ending Russia’s war in Ukraine began with a summit on Friday, Aug. 15, in Anchorage, Alaska, between Presidents Trump and Putin. The meeting led to Russian demands for territorial annexations in the Donbas region and Ukraine ceding sovereignty over Crimea.

On Monday, Aug. 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European decision-makers, including the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Finland, the UK, the EU, and NATO, met with President Trump in Washington, DC, to discuss Russia’s demands for peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, and possible further efforts to end the conflict. Former US Special Representative to Ukraine, Ambassador Kurt Volker, explains what these meetings mean and what is next for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

After the Trump-initiated summits in Alaska and Washington, Europe’s press questions whether peace in Ukraine is closer, what steps remain, and which roles countries will play.

Following the summits in Alaska and Washington initiated by US President Donald Trump, Europe’s press examines whether we are any closer to peace in Ukraine, what further steps are needed and what role individual countries can play.

Trump’s US is bending the world to its will

Expresso (Portugal) describes the world view informing the US president’s decisions:

Stefan Korshak, Kyiv Post’s military correspondent, shares his perspective on recent developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

See? I told you the “Big Meeting” in DC with Trump, Zelensky and all the European leaders would be a Big. Fat. Waste. Of. Time. Image of a cartoon rendition of the US and Russian Presidents.

Meanwhile plenty has been happening in the real war. But first, tech marches on, I’m starting things off with an image of an enterprising Ukrainian drone crew who figured out how to deliver a 155mm shell by drone. A top-end 155mm precision-guided 155mm shell these days probably costs about $150,000 to $200,000.

Welcome to “Summary of the Week” — your quick guide to the top headlines from August 16 to August 23, 2025.

Since July Ukrainian forces have been systematically targeting transport nodes to prevent resupply and movement of troops. The campaign also makes Russian holidaymakers aware of the war.

Russian sources confirmed that on the night of August 22-23, Ukrainian drones struck two railway infrastructure facilities in southern Russia, in the Rostov and Volgograd Oblasts.

Three people were injured in the Volgograd Oblast attack, which hit Petrov Val, 185 kilometers north of Volgograd, according to VChK-OGPU, a Russian Telegram channel.

When UFC star Khamzat Chimaev became the middleweight champion, he used the platform to glorify Putin vassal Ramzan Kadyrov’s iron-fisted rule over the Chechens.

In his latest UFC triumph, Chechen fighter Khamzat Chimaev did more than celebrate winning the middleweight championship inside the cage. He dedicated the win to Adam Kadyrov, the 17-year-old son of Chechnya’s strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, often described as “Putin’s attack dog.” What should have been a sporting spectacle turned into a political statement.

“Chechens, the belt is ours! For a Chechen, it is no problem to win another one. Chechen youth, let’s work. Allahu Akbar! Akhmat is power! Dustum (Adam Kadyrov’s nickname), I am bringing you this piece of iron,” Chimaev declared, raising his championship belt.

Despite overtures of compromise at his recent summit with Trump, Putin is reportedly holding fast to many non-starter conditions for stopping his war on Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to demand that Ukraine give up all of the Donbas region, renounce its NATO ambitions while remaining neutral, and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters.

In effect, little has changed since Putin and US President Donald Trump met in Alaska on Friday, Aug. 15. It was the first Russia-US summit in more than four years, and it forced European leaders to coalesce behind Ukraine due to fears that Trump might cut a deal that would pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky to capitulate.

A now-deleted social media post from US immigration officials showing the “expulsion” of Ukrainians has left advocates and refugees in a state of “dreadful anticipation.”

The Trump administration has been accused of creating a climate of fear and confusion among Ukrainian refugees after the US immigration agency, ICE, posted then swiftly deleted a social media update that claimed to show the first deportations of Ukrainians.

The incident has intensified concerns over the future of tens of thousands of people who sought refuge in the US from Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country.

2020 was a festival of solidarity. Today, resistance in Belarus is quiet – but it still exists. Kyiv Post speaks to the sister of a political prisoner still in jail.

Lawyer Iryna Kozikava is the sister of political prisoner and member of Belarusian PEN Maksim Znak, who was arrested by the Lukashenko regime five years ago. She talks about life in exile, silent resistance, and the fight to preserve Belarusian culture.

Considered one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters within the Trump administration, Gen. Keith Kellogg is becoming a mainstay in the Ukrainian capital.

Keith Kellogg, the US special presidential envoy for Ukraine will reportedly visit Kyiv over the weekend to take part in the celebration of Independence Day tomorrow, while discussing security guarantees and other matters.

On the following day, Aug. 25, he is expected to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in Kyiv.

As Russia’s war enters its fourth year, Ukraine is funding defense from its own budget as international aid covers only half of the $74.8 billion needed for 2026–27.

Ukraine’s government will receive $37.4 billion in international financing covering a two-year period, but “the same amount remains uncovered,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance told Kyiv Post.

All donor financing programs created for Ukraine expected hostilities to end in 2025, yet Russia has accelerating attacks on Ukraine by air, sea and land, leaving Ukraine with a worst-case-scenario budget deficit uncovered.

Don’t be taken in by Russia’s attempts to blame the West and Ukraine for its latest manifestation of imperialist obsessions.

Putin, Lavrov, and all the rest of the current Kremlin mob keep harping on about euphemistic “root causes” that supposedly justify Russia’s attempts to subjugate Ukraine and redraw the map of Eastern Europe.

No, it’s not NATO’s expansion, the need for “demilitarization” and “denazification” of neighboring Ukraine, and “defense of its Russian-speaking minorities,” or Putin’s personal insecurities. It’s older and deeper: Russian imperialism – sustained by a culture that has long justified domination of its neighbors.

What European media are saying about the Kremlin’s motives and tactics.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that a peacekeeping operation carried out by European troops in Ukraine would be “absolutely unacceptable” for Moscow and that at this stage a summit meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine would be premature. The Russian military has also intensified its air strikes on Ukrainian cities. Europe’s press sees little scope for peace negotiations.

Moscow is not seeking peace

The hallowed American tradition known as the National Prayer Breakfast has taken hold in Ukraine – hungry for faith in its time of trial. The gathering will host Keith Kellogg and Pastor Mark Burns.

On Aug. 25, Kyiv will host the next National Prayer Breakfast of Ukraine. This annual event, which has united politicians from different parties, business leaders, diplomats, and clergy for nearly two decades, has become a symbol that even in times of political conflict or war there remain values that rise above partisan interests.

What began as a parliamentary initiative by a small group of lawmakers has grown into a nationwide platform and is now increasingly gaining international recognition, shaping Ukraine’s image as a country grounded in spiritual values shared with the democratic world.

Trump sacks more top military officers in the wake of a negative assessment of US bombings in Iran. The spate of firings at the Defense Department is being seen as a purge.

The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and two other senior officers are being removed, officials said Friday – the latest in a series of military firings this year.

The removal of Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who led the DIA since early 2024, comes after the agency produced a preliminary assessment that said US strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months.

The Ukrainian Air Force reports that one of its pilots has died in a crash while landing after a combat mission.

On the night of August 22-23, a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter aircraft crashed during the landing approach after completing a combat mission, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on its Telegram channel. The pilot, Maj. Serhiy Bondar, born in 1979, died.

Maj. Bondar served in the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade “Ghost of Kyiv” and was deputy squadron commander. Serhiy returned to service after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Italy’s Deputy PM Matteo Salvini has long been a Putin supporter. Even though he is in a coalition with a pro-Ukrainian Prime Minister, he regularly disparages Macron’s efforts to help Kyiv.

France summoned Italy’s ambassador following “unacceptable” comments by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who lambasted President Emmanuel Macron for supporting Ukraine, diplomatic sources told AFP on Friday.

Ambassador Emanuela D’Alessandro was summoned Thursday after Salvini, whose Lega Party is a junior partner in the Italian government, urged Macron, who supports sending European troops to Ukraine as a part of a security force, to “hook yourself up to the tram.” The expression, which Salvini said in Milanese dialect, is a disparaging way of saying “do it on your own, don’t involve me.” 

Danish-Ukrainian startup Dropla secures $2.8 million to expand AI systems that detect landmines and other explosive objects, supporting both Ukraine’s military and demining operations.

Danish-Ukrainian company Dropla Tech ApS raised €2.4 million ($2.8 million) in a pre-seed round to accelerate its AI-based explosive threat detection systems.

The funding was allocated from Maj Invest Holding, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), and Final Frontier, a Nordic venture capital firm.